Week 35 Newsletter: June 19-23

Welcome back! This week was nutrition and gastronomy week! We learned so much about the world of food- what nutrition means and the different values it holds for different people, the science that goes behind cooking, hidden sugars, organics, and so much more! Here are some highlights from our week:

We had the pleasure of having Ellie in our studios this week! Ellie was one of the very first Acton Austin students and has been a guinea pig for the foundation, navigator, and launchpad studios. She flew out here to do her apprenticeship with us, and it was nothing short of amazing to have her here. She shared so much valuable knowledge with us about her experience at Acton, and she completely embodies a self-led learner, a dedicated student, and an awesome coach.It was also her birthday last weekend so we got to celebrate that on Monday!

Wednesday was dress up as your favorite character day! Everyone came in with such creative and fun outfits… from famous movie characters to classic children’s book characters, to Star Wars storm troopers!

For project time this week, nutrition and gastronomy brought us tons of valuable information. To launch the quest, we looked at pictures of families throughout the world and the food they eat in a week. We reflected on why certain countries eat a certain way and explored how geography, economy, and culture heavily play into the way people eat. Next, we learned about sugar and how much we realistically consume unknowingly. We learned about weird-sounding ingredients and packaged foods and how additives can either be totally gross chemicals or harmless natural preservatives. The students also took traditionally unhealthy (yet delicious) classic recipes and gave them “make-overs”, making them more healthy options. Then mid-week they made their own solar ovens out of cardboard and tin foil and cooked s’mores in them!

Last but not least, we had our very own Acton “Chopped”. The students were broken up into groups and given a basket of ingredients. Each team had about 45 minutes to create a dish. The judges (us guides!) looked for creativity, taste, and presentation. It was such a delicious activity and we all had a blast. They are so creative, and really good cooks!

This week in art the Eagles screen printed their final art projects onto t-shirts! They look so awesome!

In writing workshop for foundation, we had a launch about the importance of writing no matter where your journey has taken you and is going. The Eagles shared their hopes for the future, potential career paths they see themselves pursuing, and how writing will be an important skill in almost every area in life. They also continued to write their biographies and go through a second round of peer reviews.

Thursday was our day of Olympians! The summer olympics finally came and the Eagles got to push their limits to improve their scores and times from Spring. It was so much fun and we got to celebrate with our tradition of bagels from Noah’s, thanks to our awesome PE coach Niesja!

We got to celebrate a very special birthday this week….Scout’s! Scout is turning the big 11 and we are so happy we got to spend the last couple of years with him, watching these big steps in his journey. In just a short while his journey is taking him to Dallas, Texas where a whole new and exciting chapter will begin. We will miss him so much, but we are so excited to see what awesome things he will do next!

We ended the week with a SUPER fun beach day. We got to hang out with Ellie for the last time, we played beach volleyball and a new game (we don’t have a name for it yet!), talked about coaching with the future launchpadders, had a lesson in organics for our nutrition project, and read and discussed a very relevant Newsela article about personal finance courses in high school.

What a week! We will see you all on Monday for our end-of-the-year party and can’t wait to start our natural disasters week!